Thursday, November 24, 2011

I grew up on polenta. It is a cheap, filling and useful multi-tasker in the kitchen. In it’s traditional form it can be served plain with cheese or with sauces and even fried into chips. You can also substitute or add cornmeal in some recipes instead of flour or breadcrumbs, it takes a little tweaking as the textures aren’t the same. Polenta is a great addition to savoury muffins and breads.

POLENTA NAPOLITANA with layers of melted mozzarella is the quintessential comfort food for me. Topped with CRISPY EGGPLANT BALLS and a sprinkling of sharp parmesan cheese it is a very satisfying meal.

The two side dishes we made were FENNEL, BLOOD ORANGE, BEETROOT & WALNUT SALAD and ROAST BROCCOLI w/ LEMON and PINE NUTS. Two excellent and colourful choices. If you’ve never tried roast broccoli, give it a try it is delicious!

We finished our meal with some lovely BISCOTTI, this time we made them with ALMONDS and GLACE CHERRIES. These would make great gifts for family and friends for Christmas as they look very pretty and keep well in a sealed jar.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Nothing refreshes like a chilled GAZPACHO soup, it’s cold, tangy and fresh with cucumbers, capsicums and red onion. Make it well in advance and chill it before serving as an entree or a light supper with good bruschetta like GOAT’S CHEESE AND CHILLI TOSTADAS.

For a complete meal add a substantial salad of GREEN VEGETABLES w/ TOASTED ALMONDS & MANCHEGO CHEESE. Dressed with an orange vinaigrette and garnished with either some cherry tomatoes or roast red capsicums this is a feast for the eyes as well as the palette.

I watched a video recently with a local chef showing how they make their Spanish Tortillas. I was bowled over with the amount of olive oil they used in the recipe and how long the process took. I’ve been using an unorthodox way to make my TORTILLA DE PAPA for years now that uses much less oil and takes 20 minutes from start to finish. My secret is using the microwave to steam the potatoes in their skins. I slice them and leave the skins on for my recipe. You could steam them and peel the skins off if you don’t want to use the microwave. Be sure to proceed with the recipe straight away, cold potatoes take a lot longer to cook in a tortilla.

If you’ve got a crowd to feed or want to try something different you could make the TORTILLA DE ACELGA & GARBANZOS, made with silverbeet and chick peas in the same way as the potato one above. Using tinned chick peas this is also a very quick recipe.

For dessert on a really hot day you can get away with hardly turning the stove on to make the SPICED ORANGES W/ AMARETTI BISCUITS AND CREAMY YOGHURT. Or if the summer stone fruits are in season you could add some fresh apricots, plums and peaches to this compote and serve it with ice cream. It’s a great make ahead dessert that travels well.

We also had a very refreshing RUJAK salad. And to finish my personal favourite dessert BUBUR KETAN HITAM (black rice pudding with coconut and mango).

If nothing else you should give the black rice pudding recipe a go. It’s not difficult to make and low in sugar. Glutinous black rice is available in many small Asian grocers and even in some supermarkets now.

Arrange a cup of rice in centre of each plate and surround with a little of the spinach soup, fried tempeh, gado gado, chilli eggplant and kangkung. Garnish with cucumber slices, crackers and a sprinkle of fried onion.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Our last world cuisine was Indian. Perfect for both steamy and cool weather. And apparently perfect for when half the class doesn’t make it after a big Melbourne Cup win!

Wow, only half a class turned up and we still managed to get the 3 main dishes, 2 accompaniments and dessert served up. What a stellar class, I told you that by week 5 you guys won’t even need me... I’ll just email you the recipes and get the online delivery dropped off to your kitchen.

But seriously these are quick fun recipes that are just at home at a dinner party as a family meal. Adjust the seasonings and the number of dishes and you can’t go wrong.

On the menu was a big pot of DHAL, ALOO GOBI, a delicious VEGETABLE & PANEER KORMA with some refreshing CUCUMBER & TOMATO KACHUMBER and soothing RAITA. Our sweet treat was the always popular CARROT HALWA. We decided to forego the rice and ate our delicious meal with Indian flatbreads and pappadums. Left me room for that yummy dessert!

Students are often surprised by how different homemade Indian food tastes compared with what you are served in a restaurant. There are many reasons for this. We don’t use any pre prepared sauces, we don’t use clarified butter (ghee), we don’t add coconut cream, butter or cream to enrich our dishes. But also restaurant curries are made in advance and have had time for the flavours to settle and deepen. To this effect curries always taste better the next day so make sure you make plenty!

DHAL

This Indian “stew” can be prepared with lentils, split peas or chick peas but a combination provides a wider range of nutrients and variety in texture.

4.Simmer over a medium heat for around 20 minutes stirring frequently so it doesn’t “catch”

5.When the milk has almost evaporated add the sugar, sultanas and almonds

6.Stir well for a further 5 minutes till mixture begins to clump together

7.Add the tablespoon of golden syrup and cook again till mixture is dry.

8.Finished halva is a lumpy, bright orange dry mix

To serve warm: place a couple spoonfuls into bowls and serve with a little sprinkle of nuts and sultanas

To serve chilled: place into a greased mould and refrigerate till needed.

Alternatively: smooth mixture onto a flat dish and decorate the top before serving

NOTES: This is an amended recipe. Traditional halva has much more fat often incorporating up to 200 grams butter, cottage cheese and oil into this recipe! The original recipe also calls for much more sugar. I find that this recipe is sweet and rich enough for Australian palates. If you would like a richer dessert serve a scoop of vanilla ice cream along with chilled halva.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

It’s difficult to guess what the weather and the fresh fruit and vegetable market will be doing a few days in advance at the moment. One day we’re sweltering at 29C then next it’s a chilly 18C.

A guaranteed way to warm us up on a cool night are the delicious and popular POT STICKER DUMPLINGS.

You may have heard me go on about these before but do yourselves a favour and get some gow gee wrappers and make some dumplings, they are delicious! And if you make them yourself you know exactly what goes into them…

If you have some filling left over you can use wonton wrappers and make little wontons to freeze and pop into your next Asian style veggie soup.

We also made the perennial favourite FRIED RICE. Such a simple dish but when done well with lots of veggies, perfect rice and balanced seasoning it’s a very satisfying one wok dish!

About Me

This is my virtual pinboard, a place to post my recipes and sewing projects.
I teach Vegetarian Cooking and Patchwork Quilting. There are never enough hours in the day but fortuntely I can survive on a little sleep!